Toby Harnden was the Daily Telegraph's US Editor, based in Washington DC, from 2006 to 2011. Click here for Toby's website. Follow him on Twitter here @tobyharnden and on Facebook here. He is the author of the bestselling book Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards and the Defining Story Britain's War in Afghanistan.

Shock: Barack Obama co-opts top 2012 Republican to be his ambassador to China

This is a very clever move by President Barack Obama. He's chosen Governor Jon Huntsman of Utah as his ambassador to China.

A Republican, former ambassador to Singapore and fluent Mandarin speaker, Huntsman has recently staked out centrist stances on gay rights, climate change and stimulus spending. He'd made clear his contempt for the Republican congressional leadership, saying: "I have not met them. I don't listen or read whatever it is they say because it is inconsequential – completely."

That made him the best-placed moderate Republican to challenge for the 2012 presidential nomination. By any analysis, at this stage a 2012 Republican victory looks like an uphill struggle. Mitt Romney – a former moderate who's now positioned himself firmly on the Right – is probably the front runner with governors Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota also likely to run.

Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana appears to be biding his time until 2016 while the soap opera storyline of Sarah Palin;s family and her virtual estrangement from the national GOP make her look a long shot.

Huntsman probably calculated that he would not win in 2012 even if he did manage to secure the nomination. Much better, he would have reasoned, to wait out 2012, gain some major foreign policy experience while not being linked to Obama's domestic policies and have a chance in 2016.

Like the Conservative party in Britain after 1997, it looks to be a long road back for Republicans so taking a time out is likely to be a shrewd decision for someone like Huntsman.

What does Obama gain? It's a concrete example of bipartisanship, he peels off a Republican moderate and therefore shifts the party's centre of gravity further to the Right – which is where Democrats want it), he very possibly gains a good ambassador (Huntsman's fluent Mandarin and previous ambassadorship make him highly qualified) and he stops the media (for now anyway) obsessing over Nancy Pelosi and the CIA.

Romney probably benefits too. Figures close to Romney were apoplectic that his fellow Utahan and Mormon endorsed John McCain early in the 2008 cycle. Now, a rich seam of donors opens up for Romney and he has one less competitor.